Go paperless or be punished, Bawumia tells Agencies

Addressing a section of port agencies and other stakeholders on the progress of work to go paperless at the ports Dr Bawumia said the clearing process is expected to take 4 hours from September 1.

The Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has warned that agencies that do not comply with the September 1 deadline for paperless transactions at the ports will be sanctioned.

“We are hoping that by September 1st, we will move electronically. We have tried at this stage to integrate the systems. We have to eliminate the duplication that we have so that we make the systems more seamless. This is what we are hoping to achieve and we believe that with your cooperation we will have an efficient system,” he said to stakeholders.

Dr Bawumia was optimistic Ghana can achieve a four hour turnaround time at the ports through an efficient system without bottlenecks.

“I Think that our four-hour target will be met and I think we all should put our shoulders to the wheel and get this thing working by September 1st, I think it will really help this economy by reducing a lot of hustle for the importers and it will make the Finance Minister very happy.”

Dr Bawumia said this is because of a complete automation of the systems at the country’s ports.

“From 1 September, we will integrate the system and eliminate any form of duplication and make the system more seamless,” Dr Bawumia said.